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comment by coffeesp00ns
coffeesp00ns  ·  1294 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 9, 2020  ·  

Hey. It's been a while.

I'm on month number ... 6 (and a half) of unemployed/CERB. In that time I have

- learned python3, including pandas, some numpy (mostly pyplot and seaborn), and some machine learning stuff to predict future patterns in data (mostly economic).

- learned basic SQL

- started to work my way through JavaScript

- written most of a novel (still working on it)

- released my first short fiction with a price tag attached to it (2 bucks - if you're interested in a smutty WLW romance let me know)

- had a poem accepted to a local zine called "Kill Your Lawn"

- written some other shorts that will need some editing but that can be sent out to submission calls.

- replaced the clutch in my car (my dad was a huge help)

- had, and recovered from, an orchidectomy ( a kind of bottom surgery for trans women)

- learned how to sew

- Had one roommate break lease and leave early (My other roommate and I said Yay!)

- Had another roommate move in, then promptly die of a heart attack. (this was very unfortunate)

- helped coordinate said roommate's family's access to the townhouse so that they could take their time moving out his stuff (he had a lot of stuff)

I'm sure there are other things, too. Despite the length of that list it feels like I've not done all that much. It's been very hard to play music lately, especially the bass. I've been playing cello at socially distanced baroque jams on a friend's patio once a week - potent potables required, seriousness discouraged.

As other writer friends have said, if I wrote a year like this into a book it would be dismissed by editors as unbelievable and unrealistic. A lot of things are really wrong. To grasp at any silver lining at all, at least this pandemic has highlighted the stark distance between those who can make a living in my country, and those who can't, and how much our disability system and employment insurance (our version of unemployment) have suffered a death by 1,000 cuts over the years. The need to reinvest in ourselves, as a country, has become obvious.

Hope you guys are surviving. Things are hard everywhere.





Cumol  ·  1293 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Spoons! That's one heck of a roller coaster but it sounds like you got out with year head above the water (and with a new superpower!)